Supermarkets, independent butchers, and processed food manufacturers were preparing contingency plans over the weekend to switch from British to imported supplies of pork, lamb and beef, but panic buying failed to materialise.

They said there was enough British meat in the supply chain to cover the current ban on the movement of livestock, if consumers stick to normal patterns of buying.

Supermarkets reported adequate stocks, with the exception of a few areas where people appeared to have responded to reports in some newspapers about the possibility of shortages.

Sainsbury's said its buyers had checked branches across the country and found that people were buying as normal. Panic buying might make "a good story, but it's not true from what we've seen", said a spokeswoman, Mandy Percy.

Sales of red meat have been flat for some time. The season for British new lamb is coming to an end and new season lamb would start coming from New Zealand over the next couple of months even if there were no foot and mouth crisis.

Sainsbury's were confident of continuity of supply. "There is still plenty of beef, and extra pork will come from Northern Ireland. These are supply chains that already exist," said Ms Percy. Sainsbury's was not expecting any changes in prices.

Asda and Tesco said it was business as usual with no evidence of panic buying. "We're 100% confident we've got supplies to keep everything as normal," said Zaria Pinchbeck, spokeswoman for Asda. The company buys all its meat in the UK but said switching to foreign suppliers presented no difficulties. It had also ordered 200,000 frozen turkeys in case of a sudden surge in demand.

Ready meals and processed foods such as meat pies depend largely on meat from the UK. Supplies would be disrupted by the end of the week unless manufacturers started sourcing meat from overseas, but the food chain was very flexible, according to a spokesman for the Food and Drink Manufacturing Federation.

Consumers appeared to have taken on board government reassurances that there was no need for panic and that foot and mouth disease represented no risk to human health. The food standards agency said it was possible that some infected meat might have gone on sale in the few weeks before the first case was confirmed but that eating infected meat posed no risk to people. Leftover food should not be fed to pets, however.

Despite reports from the supermarkets and independent retailers' associations that people were shopping as usual, some of the tabloid papers ran stories about a widespread rush to stock up.

"Sales of fresh meat soared yesterday as shoppers rushed to fill their baskets fearing the foot and mouth outbreak will cause shortages," according to the Sunday Express.

The Daily Mail and the Daily Express led their front pages on Saturday with the idea that there might be shortages.

A few instances of panic buying were reported. Waitrose said that at one branch in Henleaze, Birmingham, there had been a 50% increase in demand for fresh meat. Kwik Save in Stirchley, Birmingham, sold out of frozen meat by lunchtime on Saturday.

But Asda said its customer service hotline was very quiet. Retailers were watching in case the prophecies of scarcity became self-fulfilling as they had done in the fuel crisis last autumn, but felt the picture this weekend looked different.

"In the petrol crisis people did panic buy food, but it was staples, like bread and milk, not meat," Ms Pinchbeck said.